It’s official: Alan Wake is the Halley’s Comet of the videogame world. While we thankfully don’t have to wait 70+ years between appearances, the game’s ability to show up out of nowhere, enthrall its audience, and then disappear without a trace draws an effective parallel to the famous celestial body.

The last time Alan did a fly over, he left us with a vague message about the game’s story, which looks to fall somewhere between Silent Hill and Alone in the Dark on the psychological horror spectrum. This time, we’ve gotten some details about the gameplay courtesy of the Norwegian site Gamer.no, who had a chance to interview the game’s lead developer Oskari Häkkinen. The translated interview is worth a read, but if you’d like to just get to the good stuff, we’ve boiled down the essential info in handy bullet form after the jump.

• The game will be less action-oriented than Remedy’s previous IP Max Payne
• The story can be categorized as a realistic psychological action thriller
• Lighting will be as important in Alan Wake as bullet time was in Max Payne
• The game’s weather is dynamic and will affect gameplay (e.g., your car will drive differently in the rain than it will on a clear day)
• The story builds to cliffhangers similar to TV shows like Lost, 24, and Prison Break
• The game is made up of episodes, each of which will focus on different styles of play (i.e., action, shooting, exploration, pursuit, etc.)